This Holiday Inn is not up to the standard that I have come to expect of the chain. Whilst it was clean the fixtures in the room and the quality of the renovation was not to the standard that I have seen in other Holiday Inns and expresses which shows the age of the property. They could also do a better job of controlling who comes into the hotel in late hour. At approximately 4am in the morning two guys knocked on the door of the room across from me violently so much that I could hear it from my room. It was obvious they did not have a key and did not stay there. Location isn't that great either. Round all this up with an extremely high price tag and you have one massive disappointment. I had stayed in a hotel on manhattan that had parking and was cheaper and was of the same quality.

Like a lot of other reviews said, highway traffic noise is the major issue on this hotel. I read quite a bit of other reviews and checked the Google map street view about this hotel before booking. I thought Rt.4 is the only cause of the major traffic noise so I called the hotel attendant to reserve a room not face to it. They got me a room face the pool area on the 5th floor. After we arrived, I still hear a bit of traffic noise and it's certainly not came from Rt.4 as our room is not face to it but Rt.95 with a big piece of rocky area between the highway and the hotel. However, there still an opening without the big rock between which caused traffic noise get through about every 2 to 3 seconds when vehicles passed by that opening area which certainly may not be as bad as those rooms face Rt.4 which is wide open to the highway. My wife told me that she is OK with the noise. I was able to get to sleep too but that's after about 2 hours I laid on the bed. I think the noise level may be better during Spring / Summer season as leaves grow on the trees on the opening area but I'm not sure.

The night front desk lady attitude was kind of cool like some other reviews said too but she does was what I asked for and at lease said 'Have a good evening' at the end.

We have a king size non-smoking executive room which is reasonably clean. There is flat screen TV, microwave, refrigerator and coffee maker which is handy to us. As an executive room, there is a good size desk with table top lamp and power socket on the lamp so we can charge our mobile phones without need to search for sockets on the wall. The reasonable size bathroom is clean enough with most amenities that you might expected (3 sets of towels, lotion, soap, shampoo, vanity mirror and hair dryer). The shower head is better than we expected which is adjustable with levels of message spray. The KING BED EXECUTIVE room charged the same price as the KING BED LEISURE room which $4 more than the standard room. As AAA member, I get about $3 dollars off. For the 12/29/2011 night, total comes to a little less than $110 which included tax.

Base on the noise level from the highway, I will try to look for other hotel if I need to stay on the same area again. If the noise level does not bother you, it's not bad to stay and convenient location to the highway.

We Stayed here in November and whilst it is a lovely comfortable hotel,it lacks good transport facilities into New York City.It was booked via an advertisement and we did not realise how isolated, on a very busy motorway,it was.You had to take a bus to the nearest subway but you could not do the same on the return trip as it was on the wrong side of the road so you had to take a bus one stop from the subway and then take a taxi to the hotel.Not Ideal if you are staying any length of time.Also no other restaurants nearby so choice restricted to Hotel restaurant.Great if you are on a business convention etc or corporate hospitality.

Someone recommended staying at the Holiday Inn in Fort Lee in order to visit Manhattan's Upper East Side, which we wanted to do over a long weekend.

We decided to stay at the Best Western the first night and the Holiday Inn right across the highway the second night, as a kind of face-off, so next time we'd know for ourselves which we prefer.

Frustratingly, though, we're still not sure which we prefer, as they each have pros and cons.

Staff: hands down, Best Western is far better. From my first phone call to the check-out, we felt like these people really cared and really helped. We were in contact with Fitzgerald and Rose and both were great. Rose also checked us in and out and even though she was swamped with groups, she gave us top-notch and caring attention. I don't know how she did it but we felt so welcome after a very long drive. The Holiday Inn staff was cold and impersonal, not impolite but grudgingly 'helpful'. Indifferent might be the way to describe them. Day and night contrast.

Atmosphere: Here Best Western is limited by its design. It seems like a motel, except it has an exterior wall in front of the rooms that creates an interior corridor. This is in a separate entrance from the office/breakfast room/lounge, so you have to go outside after checking in. The office/breakfast room/lounge is very nice and updated and the free breakfast surpassed our expectations (healthy options). The Holiday Inn is a real hotel, and the attractive, large lobby is great with a lot of conveniences and comfort. There's a restaurant on the premises but we didn't try it out (breakfast is not included in the stay).

Rooms: We asked for the same type of rooms, that is, for someone with allergies and smoke-free. Here's where we had a surprise. The Best Western room was smaller, darker and only had a fridge (the Holiday Inn had a fridge and microwave). Also, the Best Western room was dated and frumpy (unlike the updated lobby). There's no question, though, that I got a great night's sleep at the Best Western and had no issues whatsoever with allergies. The bedding was really fresh and clean, even though it was a rather dark, dated motel room. I slept like a charm and never sneezed once. The Holiday Inn room was bigger, brighter, recently nicely re-furnished and had a fridge and microwave. When I first saw it, I felt sure it had to be the winner, as it has a luxurious look for a hotel at this price point. Lo and behold, even though it won in appearance, my nose started twitching and I started to sneeze. I barely got any sleep with the sneezing and tried to improve the air by turning on the air conditioning, even though it was cold outside. This helped my breathing but the machine was stunningly loud. A real disappointment because the room looks so inviting. And everytime I turned off the airconditioner, I could hear the cars on the highway at the HI. I really couldn't understand why it was so remarkably quiet at the BW compared to the HI, as both are on the highway, but it may have been that the BW is high up on a hill, is sheltered by a berm of trees and it has an extra wall in front of the rooms. The HI was supposedly a quiet room but it wasn't at all.

Both had problem-free and fast wi-fi.

Transportation in and out of NYC: It's a little (!!!) complicated to get into NYC due to the highway confusion. The objective is to reach the subway station on the other side of George Washington Bridge. I hesitate to compare because I didn't try to go into NYC from the Best Western. The Holiday Inn worked well, except the staff weren't that clear about how it works. It has its own shuttle bus during specific hours but you have to book it the day before and it doesn't run on Sunday, so it was no help to us when we were there. We used a different shuttle near the Holiday Inn and that was pretty good. We had to take both a shuttle and taxi to return and although inconvenient, it wasn't bad at all, once you know how to do it. It saves huge bucks.

We stayed in Fort Lee (incidentally, the little grocery store near the Best Western had great sushi) to test out visiting Manhattan by staying in NJ to save money. It was pretty good, although I wonder if someone knows of a little gem right in Manhattan on the UES that is in the same $ ball park, which would make it easier all around.

It was good, though. I just don't know which of these two I'd choose next time, as the HI is more upscale and physically attractive than the BW but the BW has super staff and offers a better night's sleep in a quieter, cleaner but darker and smaller room. I just wish the rooms weren't so dated at the BW.

Access by car to both requires nerves of steel, until you know the way there!